Council Changes Fast-Tracked
PAUL McLAUGHLIN
The Government has confirmed plans to cancel elections to the East Sussex County Council due in May 2025 and to fast-track Sussex as one of its priority areas for devolution. The controversial proposals will see the abolition of all local councils across Sussex, including Hastings BC. In their place will be a new Mayor of Sussex and three all-purpose unitary authorities.
Ministers have identified the devolution of powers from Whitehall as a key to unlocking regional growth. New locally elected Mayors, including a Sussex-wide Mayor, will be given sweeping new powers over housing, planning, transport, energy, skills and employment support. They will be local champions and coordinate change within their communities.
They will work alongside new unitary councils, which will have simpler and more effective structures designed to cut waste and improve accountability, to ensure taxpayers get value for money from their services.
Unclear Timeframe
The timescale for the abolition of district and borough councils is still unclear. However, the Government has stressed that there will be no immediate changes to the operation of councils across Sussex or the services they currently provide.
Ministers have promised a devolution consultation will be held before the end of March 2025, with the results of the consultation assessed in the spring.
A ministerial decision will then be taken as to whether to proceed with a Mayoral strategic authority in late summer/early autumn. This will be followed with a spending review to confirm future Mayoral investment funds for the new Mayoral areas.
In March 2026 a formal notice of Mayoral elections will be given with the election of the new Mayor set to take place on Thursday, 7 May 2026.
This timeline is incredibly tight and could very easily be blown off course by unexpected events.
The wider reorganisation of local councils has still to be fully determined. Elections to proposed new unitary authorities have been pencilled in for May 2027, with the aim of replacing all existing county and borough councils the following year.
Like the Mayoral changes, the timeframe leaves very little room for meaningful consultation for such important and wide-ranging democratic changes. Ministers have only just issued a formal invitation to submit reorganisation proposals.
Uncertain Boundaries
It is envisaged that there will be three new unitary councils across Sussex, each with a population of 500,000 or more, and each tasked with working with the Mayor and managing a broader range of council services.
It is widely expected that the boundaries of the new unitary councils will have a similar footprint to those of the existing East Sussex CC, West Sussex CC and Brighton and Hove City Council. This is not certain, however, and in the House of Commons last Tuesday, Helena Dollimore, the MP for Hastings, Rye and the villages, raised the prospect of a Sussex Coastal authority. She called on the Government to “hear the voices of our seaside communities and to make sure that, when we are designing a unitary authority footprint, it is of a size that works for our communities and that allows us to tackle the inequalities that they face.”
The response from Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, gave her some encouragement. She said the Government “recognise that certain areas may have different needs…and we will work with local areas to look at what their needs are and then adapt. This is not set in stone.”
Hastings BC Opposition
The Leader of Hastings BC, Julia Hilton, has made clear her opposition to the reform proposals. She confirmed that a cross-party working group has been set up to “agree a vision both for a new council make up that ensures local residents have a strong voice and to ensure the new Sussex Mayor delivers for the residents of Hastings.” This working group will be making recommendations to a special full council meeting on 26 February at 6.00 pm. The meeting will be open to the public and there will be 30 mins for public questions at the beginning.
Cllr Hilton said Hastings BC has “also committed to full engagement with residents on the future shape of a council but timing continues to be absurdly fast as we have been told by the minister that we need initial proposals ready by 21 March. We need to ensure that these new Mayoral Authorities actually empower local communities rather than suck power away and up into larger more distant structures.”
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Three authorities but just one mayor – that’s two tiers all over again. Why not three authorities with a mayor each?